Teacher in school trip ski rescue

A Callander teacher had to be airlifted from an Austrian ski slope after badly injuring himself during a school trip.

Nigel Cotter, the deputy head teacher of Mclaren High, was with a party of 28 S6 pupils from the school when the accident happened at Zillertal – a popular ski resort in the Tyrol.

The 47-year-old, who lives in Edinburgh, suffered an agonising broken leg, fracturing the bine in two places , when he took a tumble after his skis ploughed into heavy snow.

He then underwent surgery where he had FOURTEEN screws inserted to the injury. Following the accident, he was airlifted from the ski slopes to a hospital in Schwaz before being flown back home to continue his recovery.

A week later, school staff and pupils sent their best wishes to Mr Cotter who was off work but on the mend.

Mr Cotter, formerly from Dartford in Kent, was a physics teacher who had worked at Mclaren since 2005.

Recovering at his Edinburgh home, Mr Cotter told the Observer he was on his first Mclaren ski trip and until arriving in Austria had not himself skied for around 20 years.

“I would like to say it happened on one of the steeper slopes but it was actually on one of the easy ones, and I was with a group of beginners,” he added.

“I skied into an area at the bottom of the beginners slope where the snow was slushy and my skies got caught in the snow. My body went round about 180 degrees but my feet didn’t and I suffered a fracture to my tibia, in two places.

“The helicopter came in and took me to hospital which was about three minutes away. I then had a two-anda-half-hour operation under general anaesthetic in which a plate and 14 screws were used on the worst of the two breaks.”

Mr Cotter was full of praise for the hospital staff who helped with his recovery.

“The hospital and staff over there were very good and the orthopaedic unit I visited here were impressed with what they have done - although it was thought they went overboard with the number of screws”, he added.

Mr Cotter was in hospital for six nights before being flown back to Scotland last week to continue with his recuperation.

Colleague Norrie Bairner, a PE teacher at the school who organises the school ski expeditions, said : “The abruptness of his skis stopping along with his momentum and his turning action saw him take a tumble.

“It was pretty clear that the injury Mr Cotter suffered was serious, but everyone is glad to hear he is recovering well.”